Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Grinning Plowman - I Play Jupiter (1989, Carlyle)

Back in the late '80 when I couldn't get my fill of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, an acquaintance suggested The Grinning Plowman. It took a few years before I found this album in a used CD rack, and thus far it's the only GP recording I've come across. The gothic overtones weren't as prevalent as I was expecting (fine by me), but I Play Jupiter definitely offers it's fair share of nods to Killing Joke, The Fall, and strangely enough, even The Art of Noise occasionally. None of the aforementioned however could match GP's percussive emphasis, or the eerily surreal vista laid out in "Skyscraper." Hopscotching from the relatively conventional to the utterly avant-garde, I Play Jupiter is an acquired taste that a lot of people just won't "get" period. And would you believe they're from Nashville, TN?

Prior to this album, The Grinning Plowman released an ep called Days of Deformity that you can check out here.
 
01. Radiator
02. Alone at Last
03. Magic House
04. Skyscraper
05. No More Love
06. Preta's Opera
07. Chinese Box
08. Smoke
09. Esmeralda
10. Koo-ka

How available on Amazon and iTunes.

8 comments:

Prine9 said...

Thanks a lot. I haven't been able to find this CD anywhere, so I've been doomed to listen to just a few tracks on myspace, last.fm, etc. I got their first release from Fritz (I think) and was very impressed. Thanks again for this forgotten diamond.

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael said...

Thanks for posting this album and the link to the first.

Thought I'd mention: I have a 1993 cassette by the Grinning Plowman called "Nothing's Ever What It Is." So there is more GP material out there to be found, though it's not necessarily listed at discogs.com yet.

As you can imagine, a fifteen-year old cassette tape that spent more than one summer in the car doesn't sound so good nowadays, but maybe someone else has it on LP or CD. It's a decent album, but at the time I was disappointed because it wasn't nearly as wild as their live show.

Best regards,
M.

edit: typo.

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sluggo said...

itunes has all of the their music now. classic

sambson said...

Anybody want to post the first Grinning Plowman track "Where The Buffalo Roam", from the NASHVILLE ROCK (YOU HAVEN'T HEARD) Compilation (1987)?

ORMUS said...

Howdy,

Wondering if a re-up of this is at all feasible? As I've just discovered this band and wonder where they've been hiding all this time. Doesn't seem to be too easy to find either.

Cheers,

Adam

spavid said...

Hi Adam. iTunes and Amazon have it now, so I'm afraid I'll have to direct you there. I left new links at the bottom of my write-up. Cheers.